The Unbelievable Exploits of Captain Robert Stobo

This entry has a number of hyperlinks to web pages I’ve done on those battles. If you like history, be sure to check them out.

One of the fascinating things about studying history is discovering facts and people that had a material effect on the events of the day but have been lost to time. One of those people from the French and Indian War was Captain Robert Stobo, whose exploits could have been an epic adventure novel if they weren’t true. Pictures of Captain Stobo are nowhere to be found, although several books have been written about him.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1726, he migrated to Virginia to become a merchant like his father. As it turned out, he wasn’t crazy about a merchant’s life. His real call was the military. His family was friends with Governor Dinwiddie and Robert was commissioned a Captain in the Virginia militia. Shortly thereafter, he led an infantry company that reinforced George Washington at Fort Necessity, arriving just before the battle. When Washington surrendered to the French, he was required to provide them with two officers to hold as hostages to ensure the return of French prisoners taken weeks earlier at the skirmish at Jumonville Glen. Robert Stobo volunteered to be one of them.

Taken back to Fort Duquesne, Stobo was free to roam the grounds, since he was not a POW. He drank and played cards with the French and became fluent in the language, all the while gathering detailed information about the fort and its defenders. When the British refused to release the French prisoners, Stobo was sent to the French stronghold at Quebec. Before he left, he convinced a friendly Indian to deliver his intelligence to the British. He did and it ended up with General Braddock, who had it with him the day of his defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela. When the French ransacked what the British had left behind, they opened Braddock’s field trunk and found Stobo’s letters and diagrams of the fort. Stobo had signed them to prove their authenticity but in doing so, signed his own death warrant.

Captain Stobo’s diagram of Fort Duquesne. It was smuggled to General Braddock, then found by the French in his field trunk after his defeat. Stobo had also written several long letters about the French defenses and troops. These were found also.

Meanwhile, in Quebec, Stobo was doing his thing again. He had the run of the place and was allowed to mingle in the upper echelons of French-Canadian society. He was in the process of amassing a dossier on the French stronghold – right up to the point where they put him in chains and threw him in the dungeon as a spy. He was tried and convicted of espionage and sentenced to the gallows. The sentence was commuted to “long term confinement” by King Louis XV.

Stobo languished in Quebec’s dungeons for three years. He escaped twice only to be re-captured shortly after. Each time, his conditions became harsher. His third escape attempt was successful. On May 1, 1759, Stobo and seven others escaped from the dungeon and found a canoe on the riverbank. They canoed for days up into the treacherous Gulf of St Lawrence. There, they happened upon an anchored French schooner, which they hijacked at night, putting the crew off in the canoe. Along with a French captain and pilot, they sailed into the harbor at Louisburg, Nova Scotia 36 days and 700 miles after their escape.

Robert Stobo’s escape route May 1 to June 5, 1759. 36 days after their escape from the dungeons of the Quebec Citadel, Stobo and his party arrived in Louisburg, Nova Scotia. They sailed into the British port in a French schooner they had commandeered in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The British were preparing to lay seige to Quebec. Stobo provided valuable information to the British commander, General Wolfe, and wanted to get back into the fight. Wolfe said no and sent him back to Williamsburg, Virgina, where he got a hero’s welcome. The final Battle of Quebec came on September 13, 1759, after a three month siege. It lasted only 15 minutes on the Plains of Abraham, but both British General Wolfe and the French commander, General Montcalm, were killed.

By now, it was June 1759 and British General Wolfe was preparing to attack Quebec from his base in Halifax. Stobo gave his detailed intelligence to Wolfe, who used it to modify his plans and successfully take the French bastion. The capture of Quebec in September 1759 broke the back of the French forces in America. Less than a year later, in August 1760, they would lose Montreal and cease hostilities, although a formal peace treaty was still three years away.

Wolfe sent Stobo back to Williamsburg, VA. Arriving there over five years after he had originally left for Fort Necessity, he received a hero’s welcome, all his back pay and a commission in the British army. Stobo returned to the fighting. Commanding a company of British regulars, he saw extensive action in the Caribbean theater. He was seriously wounded while leading an attack on Morro Castle at the entrance to the harbor in Havana, Cuba. Occupation duty in America followed as the British strived to bring order to their new lands. He returned to England in 1768 intent on finishing his army career. However, he quickly became bored with peacetime garrison duty and disillusioned by army politics. A decade of fighting, captivity and depredation had taken their toll. He began to have health problems along with financial difficulties and started drinking heavily.

About the Image

There are 12 random header images that change with every click (most of the time). Each one has a caption that identifies it. All these places were geocache locations. The photos were taken by yours truly. Enjoy.